Children in Colonial America Essay

During the time of 1600-1700’s women did not have the same rights as men in other words they did not have any rights at all. Women were treated very poorly with no type of respect. In the book called FIRST Generations WOMEN in COLONIAL AMERICA, by Carol Berkin it talked about various examples of how women were treated. Throughout my essay I will be explaining a few topics that were repeatedly in the book and I found important. Huge topic like gender roles, women population, and men being privilege. It was not easy for women around this time era, because they had to deal with a lot of hurtful things. Women were doing things we would not to today just so they can survive. Even though some women by becoming a mother meant to die soon.

First Generations: Women in Colonial America delivers a broad analysis over American women in the colonial period. It is evident that married women in colonial America were not considered equal to their husbands or to society in general. The rights of American women have come a long way in regards to civil rights. The control a woman in early Colonial America had over her own life was linked to race, religion, and class. Berkin organizes the first chapters according to race and region. Other chapters are organized by African American women, New England, and the middle colonies, Native American Women, and white women in the Chesapeake. Within each chapter, Berkin gives details about one woman from the region. European, Indian, and African women of seventeenth and eighteenth-century America were protectors of their native land, pioneers on the frontier, like-minded immigrants, and courageous slaves. They were also, as most scholars tend to leave out, just as important as men in shaping American culture and history.

The Middle colonies consisted of four of the thirteen colonies founded by the English in America. In 1609, Henry Hudson, a Dutch explorer, traveled in the Middle colonies by going on a journey into the Hudson River and Delaware Bay. In 1621, he colonized what was then New Netherland, with New Amsterdam as the capitol. The Duke of York, was given New Netherland from his brother King Charles II, and renamed the land after himself naming it New York, and the capitol was then named New York City. Being that New York was so large, New Jersey became another Middle colony, founded by the Duke of York’s friends, Sir George Carteret and Sir John Berkeley. Pennsylvania and Delaware were the next colonies to be added to the Middle colony region by William

After marriage, the husband was considered lord and master of the family. But not all the women were meek and submissive. By the 1700's, the woman’s status had rapidly improved in colonial America. A wife and child made as much as a man did. Although women did not have equality with men, their status greatly improved from their status in Europe. A woman’s station in life was determined by the position of their husbands or fathers. The women of the poorest families, compiled to work in the fields, stood at the bottom of the social ladder. One of the surest signs of the accomplishments a family had made, was the exemption of their women from the fields. Before 1740, girls were trained in household crafts and the practical arts of family management. But afterwards they began to study subjects that required reading and studying such subjects as grammer and arithmetic. The women of the upper classes occupied themselves mainly with planning the work of the home and with supervising the domestic servants. Along with these tasks the women also baked, nursed, and sewed. But there were many social restrictions placed on the women of that time. One such restriction was that a wife, in absence of her husband, was not allowed to lodge men even if they were close relatives. For

Childhood is a social construct that has been weaved together by societal norms and domineering perspectives. Childhood is not a physical or mental state but an abstraction that has been melded by society as time has progressed. In Karen Sanchez-Eppler’s excerpt titled “Childhood” from the novel Keywords for Children’s Literature, she explains how the attitudes and atmosphere surrounding childhood have vastly changed throughout history to yield the general, modern conception of childhood. Children have been deemed adults in the Middle Ages and childhood has been a vaguely regarded concept. However, as society has become more progressive and developed, an interest in distinguishing the young from the older individuals

Women did not have an easy life during the American Colonial period. Before a woman reached 25 years of age, she was expected to be married with at least one child. Most, if not all, domestic tasks were performed by women, and most domestic goods and food were prepared and created by women. Women performed these tasks without having any legal acknowledgment. Although women had to endure many hardships, their legal and personal lives were becoming less restricted, although the change was occurring at a snail’s pace.

In early America, women were expected to take care of the household and of the children. However, writers such as Anne Bradstreet and Judith Sargent Murray wanted to emphasize the importance of education for women. The two texts by these authors that will be discussed are the poem, “The Prologue” by Anne Bradstreet and the essay, “Desultory Thoughts upon the Utility of Encouraging a Degree of Self-Contemplacency, especially in Female Bosoms,” By Judith Sargent Murray. A theme seen prominently throughout both texts is fairer treatment of women through education. Although both women do believe in opportunity for women in education, Bradstreet focuses more on the idea that women should have more acceptance in the intellectual world by men while Murray however, emphasizes the importance of women to be raised properly which resulted in them understanding their self-worth.

Since the view of childhood changes in the nineteenth century, the potential of children’s literature becomes evident. With the reference to the sources of children’s literature, they can be traced back to alterations in translation and in the literature for adults, where a child or childhood are essential concepts; moreover folk literature is concerned to be a wide source for this literary genre. According to Peter Hunt

In 1845, the Godey’s Lady’s Book published an article titled “maternal instruction”. The article purpose was to make the American public aware of the need for equal education to women. The role of mother did not only meant to bear children, but also to educate them to a symbol of society.During the start of the 19th century, American males want the newly freed states to increase the citizen patriotism and intelligence to their country. Since women were child’s fist teacher, woman’s education needed to be more proficient. Mary Wollstonecraft’s novel was a role model for American education and family life. In her novel, Wollstonecraft explains how aside from a woman’s duty as a female, she also has the job to educate her child. However, the female sex has limits for the amount of knowledge passed, and the lack of knowledge restricts a mother ability to educate her child. However, mothers are nit the only females that need to be well educated. Daughters have to get a proper education not only to become a good mother but also good

“Rousseau believed that children that they should merely be accompanied. He maintained that children could and should develop naturally, with gentle guidance from wise adults who could supply necessary information” (Norton p.47). Johann Amos Comenius was the first to write nonalphabet picture book that strove to educate children. After then children literature grew year by year, especially during the Victorian era, which was the, “rise of a highly competitive industrial technology, the growth of large cities and the decline of rural traditions” “a time when authors used scientific subjects for moral and religious instruction of children” (Norton

Eighteenth-century parents focused on instilling good habits of the domestic sphere into their children. A great representation of this attitude is Lydia Child. In her book, The Mother’s Book, Child states the importance of children knowing their duties, especially girls: “a knowledge of domestic duties is beyond all price to a woman” (source 2). Knowing duties helped children create good habits that would be beneficial to their future families, boys in providing, and girls in homemaking. Child’s view on literature being harmful also showed the emphasis on a domestic sphere: “by my own observation, I believe it to be the greatest evil now existing in education” (source 2). Her belief in its growing vanity caused her to stress parents to only allow the education of their children to be by themselves as it is a parent’s job to educate their children.

As an owner of a factory in the 1800s, it is important for me to employ immigrant children in my work force. With the growth of factories in the 1800s, there is a higher demand which can get very expensive. . By having more workers, who are paid less in my work, I am able to create more materials. The creation of this material can help the economy move, by creating more for everyone to buy and sell. Not only does it benefit the economy, it can support the families of the workers. In many situations, the parents of the children may not have the capability to support the family financially. These families may need the help of these children to create a living, and live a comfortable life. The children working in this fast paced work space, also

     Religion was a very important part of everyday life in colonial America. Sometimes people were not allowed to question what they were taught, and if they did so they were punished accordingly. Before 1700 some colonies had more religious freedom then others. While others colonies only allowed religious freedom to a select group, others allowed religious freedom to all different kinds of religions. In the overall there was quite a bit of religious freedom in colonial America

There is a complete contrast of children’s way of living during 17th century and now. Changes that have progressed throughout history about children have composed the fundamentals of childhood. This includes the ideas of morality, the introduction to education, the idea of children being their own separate beings rather than little adults and the introduction of child innocence. As said by Stephen Wagg (1992) “childhood is socially constructed.

As one the few exceptions of children’s literature in the 17th century, Les Jeux et Plaisirs de L’Enfance, or The Games and Pleasures of Childhood is marked by its relatively small focus on religion, grammar, and courtesy. Instead, it was produced for children as shown by fifty engravings of various children’s games (The Games and Pleasures of Childhood (1657)). Interestingly, many of them are still familiar to us today, including tennis, fencing, and swinging. Nevertheless, the unnatural depictions of children’s body, especially muscles and positions, suggest the attitude that children are miniature adults. The style of the engravings also reflects the background of the book, the Renaissance, as the artist was clearly influenced by Roman classicism: